. >> reporter: he moved them to the philippines, then back to hayward. he gambled away his money. jassmin remembers one particular time when there was no food. >> i remember i was just rummaging for pennies and went to like a nearby liquor store and bought bread because i remembered we had like peanut butter. >> reporter: finally it got so bad, jassmin at the age of 17 took total custody of 10-year- old jeanell. jassmin was working and when she got into cal and started commuting, jeanell was often alone. >> no one was there to protect me or no one really cared even though really my sister really, really cared and i appreciate her so much for that. >> reporter: but jeanell was struggling. her grades dropped to a 1.7. that's when the sisters moved to berkeley and jassmin gave jeanell a talk. >> even though you have some bad points in your life, you don't make that keep your down. you have to keep going. >> reporter: jeanell decided to make a change. >> if my grandma, if my mom, if my sister could do it all, then i can, too. and if i have gone this far, then i could go even further.